Victory over Bombardier Snatched Away from Boeing by US Trade Commission

In what can only be described as a mammoth surprise, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decided Friday that The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was not harmed by the sale of 75 Canada-manufactured Bombardier passenger jets to Delta Air Lines. The decision eliminates the nearly 300% antidumping and countervailing duties that the the U.S. Commerce Department recommended be imposed on each plane that Bombardier exports to the U.S.

Boeing filed the trade case early last year after Delta agreed to purchase 75 CS100 passenger jets from Bombardier. In every step leading up to Friday’s decision Boeing had prevailed.

In a terse statement the ITC said:

100- TO 150-SEAT LARGE CIVIL AIRCRAFT FROM CANADA DO NOT INJURE U.S. INDUSTRY, SAYS USITC

BULLETIN

The U.S. International Trade Commission has made negative determinations in its final phase antidumping and countervailing duty investigations concerning 100- to 150-Seat Large Civil Aircraft from Canada.

Note to Users: This bulletin will be replaced by the news release when the release is available. News releases are generally issued approximately three hours after a Commission vote.

The ITC was expected to determine that Boeing was indeed harmed by Bombardier’s sale to Delta and the duties were expected to be upheld. While it’s tempting to speculate on the reason or reasons for the ITC’s decision, we’ll have to wait another couple of hours to get the details.

For now, that’s all there is.

Boeing stock traded down about 0.3% shortly after the announcement at $342.16 in a 52-week range of $160.82 to $352.23.